Committee Member Lei Jufang: Strongly Support the Inclusion of Ethnic Medicines in the Medical Insurance Catalogue

Release time:

2015-03-09 17:10

　　Ethnic medicines possess rich experience in the prevention and treatment of serious illnesses and chronic diseases, serving as a valuable complement to both modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. However, the number of ethnic medicine varieties included in the national medical insurance catalog has been declining: in the 2009 edition of the catalog, the number of ethnic medicines covered was reduced from 47 in the previous two editions to just 45. Lei Jufang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chairwoman of Qizheng Tibetan Medicine Co., Ltd., believes that during the selection process for the ethnic medicine catalog, ethnic medicine experts were not adequately involved in the evaluation system. Instead, the review and selection process relied solely on Western and traditional Chinese medicine experts. As these reviewers lacked familiarity with ethnic medicines, ethnic medicines ended up being marginalized in the evaluation process.

　　Committee Member Lei Jufang suggested that, during the review of the new edition of the National Medical Insurance Catalogue, a pool of expert reviewers specializing in ethnic medicines should be established. The sections on ethnic medicines in both the national and local medical insurance catalogues should be jointly reviewed by experts in ethnic medicine or specialists in ethnic medicines together with relevant experts from both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Furthermore, efforts should be stepped up to implement the state’s policies supporting ethnic medicines. In the national and relevant departmental medical insurance catalogues, greater weight should be given to newly added ethnic medicine products, and the number of ethnic medicine varieties should be expanded proportionally to the historical growth rate of support for traditional Chinese medicines. At the same time, existing varieties and dosage forms should be further diversified and enriched.

　　So, which ethnic medicine varieties should be given priority for inclusion in the medical insurance catalog? Committee Member Lei Jufang believes that we should focus particularly on those ethnic medicine varieties that have already been included in some provincial medical insurance catalogs and enjoy relatively good clinical application. In particular, we should pay close attention to dosage forms that are more conducive to clinical use—such as tablets and capsules—and consider including them in the new edition of the catalog. Additionally, we should also give priority to varieties that already have a solid foundation in clinical research.

　　News Source: China Pharmaceutical News

　　News link: http://www.cnpharm.com/wzzt/lhzt2015/jyxc/2015/0304/88936.html

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